In the hit film The bucket List, Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman meet in hospital in California after they have been diagnosed with cancer. Between them they cook up a “bucket list” — a to-do list of all they want to do before they kick the bucket. The movie makes you wonder what would be on your bucket list. So let's pack up some and see what it would cost to go out and have a little fun.

    THE PYRAMIDS, GIZA, EGYPT

    On to the pyramids, surely on anyone's bucket list. Exotik Tours can take you there on a variety of trips, including their popular Egypt Express which includes three nights in Cairo and a three-night Nile Cruise. From $1,384, including four-and five-star accommodation, 12 meals and a ton of sightseeing.

    www.exotiktours.com   416-646-3347

    TAJ MAHAL, AGRA, INDIA

    One of the world's most fascinating images, India's Taj Mahal makes even Nicholson and Freeman look calm. Toronto's Goway Travel has many suggestions for India, including a three-day independent visit to Agra. Stay at the attractive Oberoi AmarVilas overlooking the Taj. Include two breakfasts, touring and airport transfer from $1,420.

    www.gowaytravel.com    416-322-1034

    THE GREAT WALL, CHINA

    If the Great Wall of China is on your bucket list, check into Tour East Holiday's four-day Amazing Beijing Tour for $580 per person, four-star accommodation, sightseeing including the Forbidden City and the Great Wall, breakfasts and two lunches, transportation and guide.

    www.toureastholidays.com    416-929-0888

    THE HIMALAYAS, NEPAL

    And on to the Himalayas. Talk about “something truly majestic(壮丽的). See the top of the world on GAP Adventures' Everest Adventure tour, a 15-day exploration including Everest Base Camp, teahouse lodge stays, and walking through Sherpa villages. Incredibly affordable at just $665 plus local payment of $250. GAP Adventures warns that this is a physically demanding trip.

www.gapadventures.com     416-260-0999

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    Food serves as a form of communication in two fundamental ways. Sharing bread or other foods is a common human tradition that can promote unity and trust. Food can also have a specific meaning, and play a significant role in a family or culture's celebrations or traditions. The foods we eat—and when and how we eat them—are often unique to a particular culture or may even differ between rural (农村的) and urban areas within one country.

    Sharing bread, whether during a special occasion (时刻) or at the family dinner table, is a common symbol of togetherness. Many cultures also celebrate birthdays and marriages with cakes that are cut and shared among the guests. Early forms of cake were simply a kind of bread, so this tradition hits its roots in the custom of sharing bread.

    Food also plays an important role in many New Year celebrations. In the southern United States, pieces of corn bread represent blocks of gold for prosperity (兴旺) in the New Year. In Greece, people share a special cake called vasilopita. A coin is put into the cake, which signifies (预示) success in the New Year for the person who receives it.

    Many cultures have ceremonies to celebrate the birth of a child, and food can play a significant role. In China, when a baby is one month old, families name and welcome their child in a celebration that includes giving red-colored eggs to guests. In many cultures, round foods such as grapes, bread, and moon cakes are eaten at welcome celebrations to represent family unity.

    Nutrition is necessary for life, so it is not surprising that food is such an important part of different cultures around the world.

    This story starts with my two kids. We were hiking in the Oakland woods when my daughter noticed some plastic litter in a creek. She looked at me and said, "Daddy? That doesn't go there”.

    When she said that, it reminded me of my summer camp. On the morning of that camping day, right before they'd let our anxious parents come through the gates, our camp director would say Quick! Everyone pick up five pieces of litter, "We got one hundred kids each picking up five pieces, and pretty soon, we got a much cleaner camp. So I thought, why not apply that crowdsourced cleanup model to the entire planet? And that was the inspiration for Literati. The goal is to create a litter-free world. Let me show you how it started. I took a picture of a cigarette using Instagram.

    Then I took another photo, and another. And at the end of a few days, I had 50 photos on my hone and I had picked up each piece, and I realized that I was keeping a record of the positive impact I was having on the planet. That's 50 fewer things you might see, or you might step on, or some bird might eat. So I started telling people what I was doing, and they started participating. I realized that Litterati was more than just pretty pictures; we were becoming a community that was collecting data. Each photo tells a story. It tells us who picked up what, a geo-tag tells us where and a time stamp tells us when. Gradually, the community grew.

    Litter —it's blending into the back ground of our lives. But what if we brought it to the fore front? What if we understood exactly what was on our streets, our sidewalks and our school yards?

    How might we use that data to make a difference?

    The extreme hot weather often makes people restless with sweats in summer. Even though people are annoyed by it, experts suggest that summer is the best season to give out your body's poisonous matters and refresh your energy.

    One popular choice is hot-stone massage(按摩). Therapists(理疗师)use smooth and heated stones, usually river rocks, to massage certain parts of the body, or set them on key points of the body. The warmth of the hot stones will promote blood circulation and also help muscles relax, while sweating is also believed to be good for letting out the body's poisonous factors.

    Another popular choice is hot-stone baths. The hot-stone bath will help the body give out poisons and humidity(湿气) that build up during the last winter. Summer is the best season to form a good body. Rather than use water or steam to heat and wash the body, people simply wear a coat or something comfortable, and then lie on heated stone tablets made of hot stones, which are warmed to around 45^oC. The body will gradually warm up and blood circulation will also be improved. More sweat will come out quickly. The sweat is smooth and fresh, not smelly like that released after sports activities. Such baths bring a number of health benefits, such as anti-aging, improved blood circulation and stress relief. The slimming effect of dieting can even be promoted.

    It dates back to ancient times to use hot stones for treatment, but the modern hot-stone massage generally owes to Mary Nelson, a native of Tucson, Arizona, America, whose trademark is "La Stone Therapy".

    The therapy is earning a good fame and popularity with many people, especially those who are often seated in cool rooms with air-conditioners. The hot-stone therapy can help cure many illnesses, back pain included.

As the world struggles to deal with the climate crisis, some companies are working to remove polluting carbon dioxide from the air. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But two US companies have recently made important progress. 

Scientists say large amounts of CO₂ must be removed from the CO₂ atmosphere and stored. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But there's so much CO₂ in the atmosphere that just planting trees and protecting forests won't solve the problem. And, when plants and trees die, the carbon they've stored gets released again. 

That means humans need to come up with ways of removing carbon from the air and storing it. This is called Direct Air Capture (DAC). The science of removing carbon from the air is challenging, and it's still pretty new. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}So one puzzle for these companies is how to remove carbon without creating more pollution. 

A company called Heirloom has just opened the first DAC plant in the United States. The company heats up the limestone to separate out the CO₂, which is concrete. The process is extremely expensive. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}That's a tiny amount compared to how much carbon needs to be removed from the atmosphere, but the company says it hopes to remove a billion tons per year by 2035. 

 {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Some people worry that it will take too long for DAC technology to become powerful enough to make a difference. Others worry that focusing on removing carbon could take attention away from more important climate actions, like switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy. But experts say the decision isn't to do one or the other. The world needs to end fossil fuel use and pull carbon out of the air. 

A. Plants and trees do this naturally.
B. That's a huge and challenging goal.
C. Not everyone is excited about carbon removal.
D. Graphyte is another US company working on DAC.
E. The new plant can remove 1,000 tons of CO2 a year.
F. Most DAC processes require a large amount of energy.
G. As a matter of fact, CO₂ is just a small part of the gases that make up air.

Here are the Disney movies recommended by Brandon Dammit for this weekend. 

Fantasia 2000

Budget: $80 million

Score: 75%

I remember disliking Fantasia 2000 in theaters as a young child, but I have developed a much deeper appreciation for the fantastic music as an adult. Disney has employed advanced sound tools to produce a movie that was under-appreciated at its first appearance.

Pete's Dragon

Budget: $65 million

Score: 60%

I love Disney as much as the younger generation. But it's disappointing to see flavorless remakes like The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast harvest billions at the box office while more soulful remakes like Pete's Dragon is largely ignored. 

The Rescuers Down Under

Budget: $38 million

Score: 70%

I won't lie to you, kind reader. The Rescuers Down Under is the only movie that I've never seen here and my honor won't allow me to pretend otherwise. According to Disney, it's about the world's bravest mice, Bernard and Bianca, who race to Australia to save a boy and a rare golden eagle from a cruel hunter. So, you know, normal Disney stuff. 

The Great Mouse Detective

Budget: $14 million

Score: 72%

Picture this: a young mouse named Olivia is committed to discovering the truth of her father's disappearance in 1897 London, and she got the help from his friends, Dr. Dawson and Toby. It's basically Disney's Sherlock Holmes.